The USA Baseball National Team full of our collegiate players have capped their amazing summer by winning the 2008 FISU World University Championships in Brno, Czech Republic.

The USA defeated Team Japan 1-0 in a 12 inning barn-burner to take the FISU title, ending their season at a perfect 24-0.

Highlighting their summer were the Gold medals in both international events in which they competed. The quest for the Haarlem Baseball Week gold medal included two historic victories over the Cuban National Team–the very same roster (minus one player) in which won the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, took 2nd place in the 2006 World Baseball Classic and will be competing in the 2008 Beijing Games. The gold medal venture at the FISU World Championships involved three extra-inning games as Team USA had a big target on its back the entire event.

This was the first time in USA Baseball history that the National Team went undefeated over their summer-season! Congratulations, guys! We’re unbelievably proud (as well as in shock!) of your success!

If you do not know what I’m talking about, let me be the first one to clue you in to the happenings of our organization.

USA Baseball released the final roster for the 18U National Team and
for the Olympic Team on Wednesday. Hoping to bring a gold medal home
in each of their respective events, both teams look to be ultra
competitive and heavy on pitching.

The 18U National Team will be heading to Edmonton, Canada, and will be
competing in the IBAF World Junior Championships. This team is laden
when experience. Ten members of the roster have played international
baseball with USA in the past; including four members of last year’s
18U team and six members of the gold medal winning 16U team. They look
to bring home a gold medal in this event for the first time since
1999! They will be traveling to Canada on July 20 and will compete
July 25-August 4.

The Olympic Team roster was released highlighting an extremely exciting
time for USA Baseball coming up! These players will be participating
in Beijing from August 14-24. Hoping to bring a gold medal back home
after not attending the Athen’s Olympics in 2004, they will face tough
competition, including a Cuba team looking to avenge two losses to our
college national team last week in the Haarlem Classic.

Not only did we announce the rosters for two of the best teams in the
country, the Golden Spikes Award was given out yesterday afternoon.
Congratulations, Buster Posey! Posey, an all-around player if there
ever was one, went to Florida State University and had an absolutely
amazing year and led the NCAA in three different offensive categories.
He joins a hall-of-fame list of winners and will look to continue his
game through the MLB circuit.

Wednesday was a big day and we love it! This is the most exciting time
for us at USA Baseball and we cannot wait to see each of our teams
bring home a gold medal! Stay tuned to see how these teams do and as
always, GO USA!

Sunday, July 6, 2008 the USA National Team comprised of
college players surrounding the country defeated the Cuban National Team that
will be competing in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in August.USA won by a score of 1-0.

Cuba,
known for their utter domination on the International Baseball stage, collected
five hits on the day and gave up five hits as well.

In this colossal upset, Christian Colon (Cal State
Fullerton; Corona, Calif.)
hit the game-winning single in the fourth inning to bring in Tom Mendonca (Fresno State;
Turlock, Calif.)
as the bases were loaded.

Mike Minor (Vanderbilt; Chapel Hill, Tenn.)
got the win as he went 6.1 scoreless innings, giving up only 4 hits.Kendal Volz (Baylor; Bulverde, Texas)
got the save–his second in as many days after striking out the final batter
looking.

The National Team (Collegiate) is currently participating in
the Haarlem Baseball Week pool-play action at Pim Mullier Stadium.The team will face Netherlands
Antilles July 8 at 8:00a.m. E.S.T.To listen, free, go to the 2008 Haarlem Week Website.

The USA Baseball National Collegiate Team is at home in the Triangle
for the next four days as they continue their annual series with Chinese
Taipei.

The team will be playing in Durham,
N.C. for the next three days at the Durham Bulls
Athletic Park
and will play in Cary, N.C. at the USA Baseball National Training Complex
on Monday, June 30.All four of these
games will be versus the Chinese Taipei College National Team.

The National Collegiate Team has just narrowed their roster
to 20 men and will look to add two more members to this team in the next few
weeks. The team posts a 10-2 record so far this summer and have beaten Chinese
Taipei in the first two games of their series.

As many of you may have noticed before making your way to
this blog, there is a new look and feel to the USA Baseball Website!

This new website is a culmination of all the national
programs that USA Baseball supports.Not
only will you find information about the Olympic Team, but you will find
information about the National Collegiate Team, the 18U, 16U, 14U and Women’s
National teams as well.

Included in the website are the latest-stories, pictures,
videos, history, player features and much, much more!So take a little bit of time out of your day
to venture through the new website.Maybe
some of the up-and-coming USA Baseball events will be in your area!

USABASEBALL.COM 2.0, as we so lovingly call it, will
hopefully serve as a tool for you, the fans, to find out the latest news and
facts about the teams and players that represent the United States on the biggest
international stage!

It’s that time of the year!Summer is in full swing for USA
Baseball.Absolutely the busiest and
most enjoyable time of the year, the summer is already full of a lot of events
and long days.It just so happens,
though, that this is just the beginning!

The 2008 Tournament of Stars has come and passed
after a successful and entertaining week of baseball action.The 2008 Tournament of Stars welcomed the top
144 18U players in the country to compete for 34 trial spots for the 18U National
Team.After team Dixie
claimed the 2008 Tournament of Stars Championship after going unbeaten on the
week, the 34-man invitee list was announced.These 34 players will travel to Phoenix,
Ariz. July 10-17 for the 18U
National Trials.The final 18-man roster
will travel to compete in the IBAF “AAA” World Championships in Edmonton, Canada
on July 20.

The 16U Championships trials have begun as well.Competing in Florida
and Arizona,
the 144 team tournament showcases the best talent in the country while a devoted
group of USA Baseball scouts evaluate and observe these players for the
possibility of playing with the 16U National Team.Trials candidates (36 total between both the
East and West tournaments) for the 2008 16U National Team will be announced on
June 27. Those players will participate in the 16U National Team Trials and the
final 18-man team will be selected from these trials to compete in the 2008
COPABE ‘AA’ Youth Pan American Championships.

The National (Collegiate) Team has almost finalized
their roster for the up-and-coming FISU World University Championships and Haarlam
Baseball Week.Narrowing down their
roster to 20 players, the final 2 selections will be announced later in the
weekend.The team is headlined by Outfielder Kentrail
Davis (Tennessee; Theodore, Ala.)
who hit an astounding .463 with six home runs and 19 RBI in 12 games during the
2008 National Team Trials. The National (Collegiate) team will be
playing their annual USA versus Chinese Taipei Series beginning June 25 including
games in Durham, NC (June 27-29) and Cary, NC (June 30).

The summer has been busy and it shows no signs of
slowing down! But we already can’t wait for the rest of the summer!

As
you (and us too!) anxiously await the trials and selection of the U.S. Olympic
Baseball Team, keep updated with all of the happenings with USA Baseball this
summer by staying connected to www.usabaseball.com.There will be so much going on that you’ll
always have something new to read!

The 2008 Tournament of Stars (TOS) began today at the USA
Baseball National Training Complex in Cary,
N.C.The TOS is one of the premier events that showcase
the 18U talent in the country.

The Tournament of Stars is comprised of 144 players in eight
different teams.Representatives from
all over the country are sent from the RBI, NABF, Babe Ruth, Pony, American
Legion, Dixie, USA Stars and AABC leagues as a
tryout for the 18U National Team.

This event lasts all week (June 17-22) and will end with 32
of these players being selected to travel to Phoenix, Ariz.
in July for the 18U National Trials where the final 18-man roster will be
announced.From there, this team will
travel to Edmonton, Canada to compete in the Junior
Worlds Championships.

The ceremonial first pitch has passed as the director of the
RBI league threw a strike, right down the middle to the Babe Ruth catcher, Max
Stassi.

Babe Ruth will be taking on the NABF at 1pm today.Dixie vs.
Pony will start at 4pm and the American Legion takes on RBI at 7pm this
evening.All games will be played in the
main stadium of the USA Baseball National Training Complex.